The King and the Chorus Girl

Enjoyed this classic 1937 film which was a very cute comedy about a King played by Fernand Gravet,(Alfred Bruger VII) who falls in love with a chorus girl played by Joan Blondell, (Miss Dorothy Ellis). Alfred Bruger the King fell in love almost immediately after viewing her as a chorus girl and wound up taking her to his home and she locked him in his own bedroom and would not let him out. There is plenty of comical games being played between this couple and they both fall deeply in love with each other. The King even hires an entire cruise ship to capture Dorothy Ellis in an effort to propose to her and never let her get away. Edward Everett Horton,(Count Humbert Evel Bruger) gave a great supporting role and added plenty of comedy in many scenes. If you look close, you will see Jane Wyman, (the former wife of President Ronald Regan).

This movie is an absolute delight and I cannot believe it's not considered a minor classic. Joan Blondell and Fernand Gravey have an incredible chemistry - so many reviewers have talked about how witty and sexy Blondell is in this movie, but so is Gravey (grrrr!)! I kept laughing out loud, and when I looked up the movie here to read more about it and saw that it was co-written by Groucho Marx, so many things made sense as to why the banter is so witty. Solid supporting cast - Edward Everett Horton is awesome as always, but Alan Mowbray in this comic role is also a delight. What an incredibly under-rated movie - definitely my favorite of all the many, many royalty-falls-in-love-with-commoner films.

Former King Fernand Gravey now spends his life drunk in Paris at night. He has not seen daylight in years. One night at the Folies Bergere, he sees chorus girl Joan Blondell look at him -- in a purely professional manner -- and decides he wishes to pursue her. Gravey's staff -- Edward Everett Horton and Mary Nash -- thinks this is a good way to get him off the booze, so they encourage her, but warn her that he loses interest after victory.

There's no credited director for this movie co-written by Groucho Marx and Norman Krasna, but it's probably Mervyn Leroy. Beginning with an obvious set-up for a romantic comedy, it's been cast with an amazing variety of clowns: Alan Mowbray, Jane Wyman, Luis Alberni, even Shaw & Lee as two stage comics, but most of all Gravey, who is surprisingly delightful, delivering his lines with a combination of gravity and playfulness that is very winning. Miss Blondell has little to do save to act as straight woman, which she does most charmingly in her beautiful, big-eyed fashion.

This very amusing picture justifiably sits alongside the absolute best of the Fred and Ginger or Jessie Matthews romantic comedies. It's also a lot more fun than THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. The silly story and the characters are believable enough to fully engage with - you feel involved.

There were there people who scoffed haughtily at this at the time. It was accused of being formulaic, predictable and corny. Well of course it is - that's what makes so brilliant!

Yes, it is formulaic - it's honed and tuned to perfection so that you know exactly what you're going to get. It was known what boxes needed ticking to make a classic rom-com, and that's just what you get with this.

Yes it's also predictable but that gives you that reassuring comforting feel. You're not going to get stressed watching this, whatever silly challenges and obstacles arise, you know they'll sort it out by the end.

Corny? Yes but not in a sugary, sentimental way. When made properly by a top director such as Mervyn LeRoy and co-written by Groucho Marx, corny can be funny.

Joan Blondell enjoyed the opportunity to do something a little different and with a bigger budget to what she was often in and you can sense her new found energy and enthusiasm. She is perfect in the role and from the moment she appears you're fully on board. For the next hour and a half, your entire life exists just to make sure she gets the happy ending she deserves.

Fernand Gravey is also perfect as the bored, over-entitled deposed young king. Despite all the cliches, he gives character absolute authenticity. He's actually more believable (and certainly more likeable) as a troubled monarch than that Edward VIII chap who was making all the headlines at this time.

I really only know FERNAND GRAVET from his playing of Johann Strauss in THE GREAT WALTZ and was not overly impressed with his by-the-numbers impersonation of the great music master.

So, truth be told, I wasn't expecting much from this little comedy co-starring him with JOAN BLONDELL, another so-so actress who occasionally had a bright role to play in films like A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN but usually had to be content with less than impressive roles in screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s.

Considering that the script for THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL is penned by Norman Krasna and Groucho Marx, it's a shame the material lacks the sort of wit to be expected when those two minds collaborated. Let me put it this way--Gravet is supposed to be able to sit through a show with his eyes wide open but asleep. That's the way I felt forcing myself to stay with this "comedy".

He sits patiently through KENNY BAKER's tenor solo at a nightclub in Paris on a huge art deco set but is soon transfixed by flirtatious bit of business from JOAN BLONDELL as a chorus girl flashing a mirror beam at his face and promptly decides he wants to have dinner with her.

Blondell is introduced to EDWARD EVERETT HORTON as a Count and MARY NASH as a Duchess before her dinner date with Gravet, as King Alfred VII. The trouble is the bored king has fallen asleep.

There's such a lack of wit in the writing that you may fall asleep too. Hard to believe that with this pleasant cast, Krasna and Marx couldn't do better. It's a screenplay that strains to be funny--but isn't.

Gravet is more animated than usual in comedy, but is most convincing when he's bored. Blondell is prettily photographed and pleasant as the chorus girl but it's a role that's no stretch for any young actress.

Wasted in a supporting role is JANE WYMAN (with French accent), who would later do another little Krasna comedy called PRINCESS O'ROURKE in a much better supporting role.

The slim plot depends upon Blondell's resistance to the King's charm, determined as she is to be as unimpressed as possible. Their first meeting ends disastrously with Blondell finding his behavior boorish. It's the sort of theme that was much better done years later with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL.

Summing up: Fernand Gravet tries hard but he's no Cary Grant in screwball comedy--and both he and Blondell needed a better script!